Conventionally, a seat adjustment lever of a seat adjustment mechanism mounted to a car is positioned on a side surface of a seat, which is a position at which a passenger sitting on the seat has difficulty in visually identifying the lever directly. Therefore, the passenger needs to adjust respective components of the seat by groping for and operating the seat adjustment lever. Further, in recent years, adjustable portions are increased in an in-vehicle seat and a handle so as to enhance comfort for a passenger of a car. However, a space in which the seat adjustment lever is to be positioned is limited to, for example, a part of a side surface of a seat. Therefore, even when the adjustable portions are increased, it is necessary to adjust all the adjustable portions by using the seat adjustment lever positioned in the limited space. Accordingly, when the adjustable portions of an in-vehicle seat and a handle are increased, a mechanism of the seat adjustment lever becomes complicated. When the mechanism of the seat adjustment lever becomes complicated, an erroneous operation is more likely to be caused by a passenger due to the seat adjustment lever being positioned at a position at which direct visual identification is difficult. Further, it is needless to say that, even if, for example, a seat adjustment mechanism other than the seat adjustment lever is positioned at a position at which a passenger can visually identify it easily, when the seat adjustment mechanism becomes complicated, an erroneous operation is more likely to be caused by a passenger.
Therefore, various adjustment mechanisms have been conventionally suggested so as to enable multiple adjustable portions to be easily adjusted without causing an error. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration, for a seat position adjustment, which is included in an in-vehicle equipment operation apparatus 90, disclosed in Patent Document 1, for enabling an easy operation of in-vehicle equipments. The in-vehicle equipment operation apparatus 90 includes: an image data storage section 901; a touch display 902; a display control section 903; a communication control section 904; and a seat adjustment section 905.
The image data storage section 901 stores images, such as arrow buttons and a shape of a seat, to be displayed on the touch display 902.
The touch display 902 displays an image of image data which is read from the image data storage section 901 by the display control section 903. Further, the touch display 902 transmits, to the display control section 903, a position, on a screen, which has been touched by a user.
The display control section 903 reads image data stored in the image data storage section 901 and causes the touch display 902 to display an image. Further, the display control section 903 determines one of the arrow buttons which has been touched by a user, based on the position, on the screen of the touch display 902, which has been touched by the user. The display control section 903 causes the communication control section 904 to generate a seat adjustment signal As for operating the seat adjustment section 905, based on the one of the arrow buttons which is determined as having been touched.
The communication control section 904 generates the seat adjustment signal As for causing the seat adjustment section 905 to perform an operation corresponding to the arrow button which has been touched by the user and is included in the arrow buttons displayed on the touch display 902.
The seat adjustment section 905 drives an in-vehicle seat adjusting motor, which is not shown, and adjusts a front/back position and the height of the entire in-vehicle seat, based on the seat adjustment signal As generated by the communication control section 904.
FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a seat adjustment screen, which is included in display screens to be displayed on the touch display 902 of the in-vehicle equipment operation apparatus 90 shown in FIG. 16. On the display screen of the touch display 902 shown in FIG. 17, displayed are a seat shape image 9041, arrows 9042 indicating directions in which the seat adjustable portions can be adjusted; and a return button (setting end button) 9043.
When a passenger touches one of the arrows 9042 displayed on the display screen of the touch display 902 as shown in FIG. 17, the adjustable portion of the in-vehicle seat which is associated with the one of the arrows 9042 can be adjusted in the direction indicated by the one of the arrows 9042. Thus, the passenger is allowed to adjust the seat by using the touch display 902 without operating an adjustment lever which is difficult to visually identify directly, so that an erroneous operation for the seat adjustment may be less likely to be caused by the passenger.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-153684